It took 17 pounding plays, four third-down conversions and a two-yard Ezekiel Elliott touchdown run for the Cowboys to sap the energy from a rollicking Soldier Field on Thursday night.
On the sideline, though, the Bears weren’t cowed by the Cowboys’ opening possession, which was the longest by any team in the NFL this year.
They’d seen worse.
“There wasn’t an ounce of flinch,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “Nothing. No one cared. I mean, yeah, we cared – we want to stop them — but there was no panic. That was nothing.
“We’ve been through a lot more. We’re mentally callused right now, and I like that.”
The Bears chose a heck of a way to develop that callus, losing five of their first eight games, including an oh-for-October.
They’ve won four of five since, knowing one more loss would extinguish their already-dim playoff chances. While not a single victory came against a winning team, Nagy appreciates what the wins proved about the character of his players.
The Bears will have to channel that character into a new role in each of their final three games: underdogs.
“I’m OK with that,” coach Matt Nagy said. “For our guys, it’s different. Last year, there was a different type of mentality because what we didn’t know, we didn’t know. There were no expectations. This year: a lot of expectations.
“So now here we are at 7-6. Who knows really what we’re going to be at? We know we have some really good teams coming up. Our guys, as you can see, they’re just focused on winning each week. That’s what they’re doing.”
The position might actually fit the Bears — particularly because they couldn’t shoulder the responsibility of presumptive Super Bowl contender. Sky-high expectations, piled on the Bears as early as the June fan convention, were met with a midseason thud.
“You can’t fix the past,” receiver Allen Robinson said. “But we can have control over what’s in the future for us, and that’s in the next day. We know the situation we’re in.”
Quarterback Mitch Trubisky also read from the underdog’s playbook when asked what Thursday’s 31-24 win against the Cowboys meant to his team.
“I think it says we’re resilient, stick together, believe in each other even when nobody else believes in us,” he said. “That’s a special group in that locker room. We want to keep this feeling going, focusing on the little things, focusing hard, sticking together, doing our jobs.”
The Bears have been Vegas underdogs only three times thus far this season: at the Eagles, at the Rams and Thursday against the Cowboys.
They’ll match that total over their final three games. The home Packers, road Chiefs and home Vikings all figure to be the betting favorite.
Nagy is embracing it.
“These guys have proven to me, and our staff, what they’re all about,” he said. “Never once did they ever start pointing fingers, they never flinched. We’ve become closer through all of it, and I think that regardless of what happens the rest of this year, I know this: I’ve learned a lot about who we are as the character, and I love that about them.”
Nagy knows not to expect a parade because his team is 7-6. But he appreciates that the Bears have put themselves in position to play meaningful games in December.
Not that they’re favored to win any of them.
“Some day I’ll look back on this season and I’ll always come back to how we handled where we’re at right now,” Nagy said. “And I know we still have games left, but this is their moment to be able to, ‘Hey, just keep doing what we’re doing.’”
